Page 41 of Last Resort

“So, you have an injured employee, we have two teenagers who are useless for providing info, and we are still no closer to finding Stella’s stalker,” Nicholas said.

Chance grit his teeth. The other man was correct in his summary of the situation. “Yes. Using a decoy isn’t going to work anymore. Before knocking Maci unconscious, he told her he knew she wasn’t Stella. We don’t know when or how he figured it out.”

“We know he knew where all the security cameras were in your daughter’s apartment,” Brax said. “He took out the one in the elevator completely and was able to avoid the hall and lobby cameras.”

“Even the ones we set up in secret?” Dorian asked.

Chance nodded. “Guy kept his head tucked down and face averted for everything. Avoided the cameras but didn’t seem to know where they were specifically beyond the elevator. Doorman didn’t see anyone, so he came in through the service door.”

Dorian looked as frustrated as all of them felt. It was like the stalker was always one step ahead of them.

And even worse, he was starting to escalate. No more letters and two violent instances in a row. When stalkers changed their MOs so abruptly, it could spell disaster for the object of their obsession.

“Stella isn’t happy about keeping out of the limelight this long,” LeBlanc said.

Brax quickly shook his head. “Coming back now could be the worst thing she could do. The stalker obviously doesn’t know where she really is because there’s been no attempts on her in Europe.”

The rest of them, including Dorian, were quick to agree.

“Mr. LeBlanc, we’re still committed to solving this case,” Chance said. “Doubly so, now that the stalker hurt one of our own.”

LeBlanc rubbed the back of his neck. “What’s the next step then?”

“We’d like to look through the footage for the last few months of events to see if there are any guests or patterns that we can discern. We’ll need a full accounting of Stella’s schedule to match up the times she got the stalker’s letters we’ve already got at the office.”

“Full staff list too,” Weston said.

Rich shifted slightly in his seat. He looked uncomfortable. Was he nervous? Bored? Hungover from going out last night? All were possibilities.

“We’ve got all the security footage already. I’ll get that for you,” Dorian said. “I’ll make sure to include who was guarding Stella and her apartment as well.”

Chance nodded, glad the other man wasn’t offended by them wanting to double-check his work. “If we continue to work together, we’ll catch this guy. Everybody makes a mistake at some point. We’ll figure out a way to hurry that along.”

Not long after, with the meeting over and a plan in place, the Patterson brothers headed home. No one spoke until they were pulling away from the building.

“Rich didn’t like that we’re investigating the past,” Weston said.

Chance tapped his fingers on the seat next to him. “No, he didn’t. He especially didn’t like that we’re going to have full access to the staff list.”

“Could he be the perp?” Luke asked.

Chance shrugged. “It wouldn’t make much sense. He’s had unfettered access to Stella for years. Why start being a pseudo stalker at this point?”

His brothers all murmured their agreement.

“Who wants to bet money we’re going to find him doing something shady on the footage?” Luke asked.

No one was dumb enough to take that bet.

“For now, let’s just focus on the plan,” Chance said. “We look through the footage and dig through employees and people closest to Stella. We look again at the people who message her or follow her obsessively on social media. I think whoever it is has to be someone close.”

“Why do you say that?” Weston asked.

“They know too much to just be watching. This feels like intimate knowledge.”

“They could have a mole in the staff,” Luke suggested, writing the idea down on his phone’s notepad for later.

They all let out a groan.

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